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Soldiers In Iraq Read About CPT Maynulet's Conviction (Stars & Stripes)

From the European and Pacific Stars and Stripes, this human interest story on how soldiers are reacting to the conviction and sentence of CPT Maynulet:

Soldiers serving in Iraq had differing opinions on the sentence of Capt. Roger Maynulet.

“I don’t think he should have got kicked out,” said Spc. John Kirkpatrick of Englewood, Fla., and the 1st Battalion, 15th Infantry Regiment.

“He was just doing his job. That’s something where you have to make a split-second decision. The military jury should have been people who have been [in Iraq] and have done all that stuff.”

Kirkpatrick said that Maynulet’s soldiers who destroyed evidence in the case were just showing support and trust for their leader.

“It was a high-value target to be caught or destroyed,” Pfc. Christopher Cade of Jefferson City, Mo., and the 1-15th said of Karim Hassan Abed Ali al-Haleji. “He did what he thought was right. I can’t say he was right or wrong because I haven’t been in that situation.”

Spc. Aaron Berghoff of West Los Angeles, Calif., and the 1-15th said the sentence was appropriate.

“Once the guy is down, it’s done and the mission is accomplished,” Berghoff said. “Once [Maynulet] became the judge, jury and executioner, we’re no longer appropriately representing the U.S. military.”

From The AP (via KMBC-TV Kansas City):

A Fort Riley solider will face a court-martial this June for the death of two soldiers in northeast Kansas last fall.

Military officials say Sgt. Aaron Stanley will face two charges of premeditated murder for the deaths of Staff Sgt. Matthew Werner, 30, of Oxnard, Calif., and Spc. Christopher Hymer, 32, of Nevada, Mo.

Stanley is held in Geary County until the court-martial. He's also charged with conspiracy to commit murder, wrongful possession with the intent to distribute marijuana and methamphetamine, wrongful use of meth, absence without leave, violation of an order to restricting him to Fort Riley and adultery.

A second soldier, Sgt. Eric Colvin, also is charged in the shooting deaths and is awaiting further military proceedings.

From the NY Times: Army Officer Convicted in Iraqi's Death is Freed (another version of the CPT Maynulet breaking news I told you in the below post); Sudan: U.N. Court Rejected ("Sudan denounced a United Nations vote to send war crime suspects from the western Darfur region to the International Criminal Court in The Hague and signaled that it would not cooperate in handing its citizens over to face justice abroad. "I believe it is unfair, ill advised and narrow-minded," the foreign affairs minister, Najeeb al-Kheir Abdul Wahab, said."); U.S. Soldiers In Columbia Cocaine Inquiry ("Five United States Army soldiers stationed in Colombia were detained after an investigation found they had tried to smuggle 35 pounds of cocaine to the United States aboard a military plane, American authorities said. Lt. Col. Eduardo Villavicencio, a spokesman for the American military command for Latin America, said from his office in Miami that the men were being held in the United States after an investigation of cocaine trafficking in both countries. The military would neither release the names of the soldiers nor provide other details.").


Army 1LT Julian P. Goodrum

From the Washington Post: Iraq War Vet's Case Decided ("An Iraq war veteran who faced court-martial when he sought civilian treatment for post-traumatic stress disorder was found not guilty yesterday of conduct unbecoming an officer, military officials said. But First Lt. Jullian P. Goodrum, an Army reservist, was found guilty of fraternization and will forfeit half of his pay for two months as punishment, officials said. He and a female sergeant allegedly had prohibited relations in 2003 during their prewar mobilization and deployment into the Iraq war. Goodrum's case was heard yesterday at Fort McNair before Maj. Gen. Galen B. Jackman, commander of the U.S. Army Military District of Washington."); U.S. Soldier Avoids Jail in Killing (another CPT Maynulet story); In Exploring a Solution for Darfur, Sudan Opts for Local Justice ("Sudan has objected to the court and said it would not allow its citizens to be taken outside the country. In recent interviews, high-level officials said an international court would intensify the fighting and give all parties less of a reason to make peace. "We have traditional ways of solving problems on the ground," said Ibrahim Ibrahim, an adviser to the vice president in the Foreign Ministry. "In Africa, we believe in reconciliation not punishment. We can kiss and make up. This court is punitive and will only hurt and harass us.").

From the AP (via the Boston Globe):

A decorated Army captain convicted in the shooting death of a wounded Iraqi was dismissed from the military Friday, but will serve no time in prison after insisting at his court-martial that the shooting was a mercy killing.

A relieved Capt. Rogelio ''Roger'' Maynulet, 30, threw his arms around his attorneys, wife and parents after the military court spared him a prison sentence. Prosecutors had sought a three-year term along with the dismissal.

Maynulet could have faced 10 years in prison after being convicted Thursday of assault with intent to commit voluntary manslaughter. He maintained throughout the trial that he acted to end the suffering of a man he was told was beyond medical help.

Maynulet said after the sentence that he was grateful to avoid imprisonment, but that having to leave the military would be difficult.

''It's bittersweet,'' he said. ''I'm happy to have my life back, but I'm being forced out of my family. It's hard to leave the Army this way.''

''Still, I'm definitely happy I'm not in confinement,'' he said.

War Crimes is the theme of the day.

From the NY Times: U.N. Votes to Send Any Sudan War Crimes Suspects to World Court ("The Security Council voted Thursday night to send any war crimes suspects from the Darfur region of Sudan to the International Criminal Court in the Hague, after the United States obtained amendments to exempt Americans from the tribunal's jurisdiction. The vote of the 15-member Council was 11 in favor, with four abstentions- Algeria, Brazil, China and the United States. The withdrawal of American opposition to sending the cases to the court represented a significant diplomatic change of course for the Bush administration, which vehemently opposes the court and has been insisting for two months that it would block any Security Council move legitimizing it."); Bosnian Serbs Report 900 Under Investigation ("The Bosnian Serb authorities said Thursday that they were investigating nearly 900 officials of their own government to determine whether they had a role in the killings of more than 7,000 Muslim men and boys from the town of Srebrenica in 1995 during the war in Bosnia. A commission of inquiry has given Bosnian state prosecutors the names of 892 people accused of some responsibility in the killings, considered the worst mass killing in Europe since the end of World War II.").

From the Washington Post: U.N. Council's Resolution on Atrocities in Sudan is Passed; U.S. Soldier Convicted in Iraqi Shooting Death (another CPT Maynulet story); and this story about coke-head Army pilots ("Five U.S. Army soldiers are under investigation for allegedly trying to smuggle 32 pounds of cocaine out of Colombia aboard a U.S. military aircraft, American officials said. The soldiers were detained Tuesday as a result of the investigation, said Lt. Col. Eduardo Villavicencio, a spokesman for the U.S. military's Southern Command in Florida.").

From the AP (via this ABC News story):

A military court Thursday convicted a U.S. Army tank company commander of a lesser criminal charge in connection with the shooting death of a wounded Iraqi last year.

Capt. Rogelio "Roger" Maynulet was found guilty of assault with intent to commit voluntary manslaughter, which carries a maximum of 10 years in prison. Prosecutors had sought conviction on a more serious charge of assault with intent to commit murder, which carried a 20-year maximum.

Maynulet, 30, of Chicago, stood at attention as Lt. Col. Laurence Mixon, the head of the six-member panel, read the verdict at the court-martial. The court was to reconvene later Thursday to consider Maynulet's sentence.

Army CPT Rogelio Maynulet (Washingtonpost.com)

From the Washington Post, U.S. Soldier Tells Court He Shot Iraqi Out Of Mercy:

A U.S. Army tank company commander told a military court Wednesday that he shot a gravely wounded, unarmed Iraqi man "to put him out of his misery," saying the killing was "honorable."

Taking the stand for the first time at his court-martial, Capt. Rogelio Maynulet, 30, described the events that led him to fire twice on the Iraqi, who he maintained was too seriously injured to survive.

"He was in a state that I didn't think was justified -- I had to put him out of his misery," Maynulet said. He argued that the killing "was the right thing to do, it was the honorable thing to do."

Prosecutors say Maynulet violated military rules of engagement by shooting an Iraqi who was wounded and unarmed.

In other news, Fragger Tries to Escape ("A soldier charged in a fatal grenade attack on two officers in Kuwait in March 2003 tried to overpower one of his military guards, causing the postponement of a planned pretrial hearing until Friday. Army Sgt. Hasan Akbar turned against one of his military police escorts at Fort Bragg's courts building around 7 a.m., two hours before the scheduled start of the hearing, the Army said in a statement. "The MPs quickly regained control of Akbar," the statement said.").

From USA Today, U.S. Soldier: Shooting Iraqi was "Honorable" (another story on CPT Maynulet).

The Forum for Academic and Institutional Rights (FAIR), a consortium of law schools and law professors, has filed this reply brief to the Defense Department's petition for certiorari in FAIR v. Rumsfeld, the case involving the constitutionality of the Solomon Amendment. More to follow...

Busy news day for military legal issues.

From the NY Times: U.N. Council Approves Penalties in Darfur ("The Security Council voted Tuesday to impose sanctions on individuals in the conflicted Darfur region of Sudan who commit atrocities or break cease-fire agreements. The vote was 12 to 0, with three countries - Algeria, China and Russia - abstaining. Under the resolution, all 15 countries would contribute members to a new panel that would decide who was eligible for punishment. The measure, drafted by the United States, bans travel by individuals who are deemed guilty of offenses and freezes their assets. It also forbids the Sudanese government in Khartoum from conducting offensive military flights into Darfur and from sending military equipment there without first notifying the Security Council."); Harsh Tactics Were Allowed, General Told Jailers in Iraq ("The top United States commander in Iraq authorized prisoner interrogation tactics that were harsher than accepted Army practice, including using guard dogs to exploit "Arab fear of dogs," a memo made public on Tuesday showed. The memo, dated Sept. 14, 2003, and signed by Lt. Gen. Ricardo Sanchez, then the senior commander in Iraq, was released by the American Civil Liberties Union, which obtained it from the government under court order through the Freedom of Information Act."); Yemeni Held in Guantanamo Was Seized in Cairo, Group Says ("Sometime in September 2002, a Yemeni businessman and intelligence officer was abducted on a Cairo street, then kept incommunicado for more than a year by United States authorities, and is now among those imprisoned at Guantánamo Bay, Cuba, according to an examination of his case by Human Rights Watch. The case of Abdul Salam Ali al-Hila is an example of what human rights groups call "reverse renditions," in which a foreign government assists or cooperates in seizing someone who is then transferred to United States custody."); Judge Blocks Transfer of 13 from Guantanamo ("In a defeat for the Bush administration, a federal judge ruled on Tuesday that the government could not transfer 13 Yemenis from the detention center at Guantánamo Bay, Cuba, unless it notified the judge and gave their lawyers a month to challenge the removal. The opinion, by Judge Henry H. Kennedy Jr. of Federal District Court for the District of Columbia, was issued on a procedural skirmish that involved a small number of detainees, but it represented another rebuff to the administration's core legal contention that it has unbridled power to detain and transfer prisoners in the campaign against terror without court reviews.").

From the Washington Post: New U.N. Darfur Sanctions Passed; U.S. Barred from Sending 13 Detainees Abroad.

From USA Today: 38 Detainees Ruled Eligible for Release ("The Pentagon has completed hearings for the 558 detainees at the military prison at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. It concluded that all but 38 should be held as “enemy combatants,” Navy Secretary Gordon England said Tuesday. Of the 38 who have been cleared after secret military tribunals, only five have been returned to their home countries: two from Afghanistan, one from the Maldives, one from Pakistan and one from France. The other 33 have been moved to a “better environment” at Guantanamo and will be returned “as expeditiously as possible,” England said.").

I guess all the suffering in Sudan, Myanmar, and North Korea is over. Human Rights Watch just announced they are "studying" the American military justice system:

The project to collect and analyze data from more than 100 cases began in December, which includes allegations of abuse of primarily people in detention in Iraq, Afghanistan and Guantanamo Bay, Sifton said. According to the New York Times, Army and Navy investigators say at least 26 prisoners have died in American custody in Iraq and Afghanistan in what could be criminal homicides.

Although they say it’s too early to draw conclusions, Human Rights Watch says it has concerns about how thorough investigations are and questions about light punishments for serious crimes.

“One preliminary suspicion we have — we’ll see if the data bears it out — we suspect a major problem is that commanders often opt for non-judicial punishment over courts-martial in serious cases, in cases even of homicide,” Sifton said.

From the NY Times: Sudan Arrests 15 Accused in Darfur Crimes ("Sudan has made its first arrests of military and security forces accused of raping and killing civilians and of burning villages in the Darfur region of western Sudan, Justice Minister Ali Mohamed Osman Yassin said Monday. Mr. Yassin said that a government committee had arrested 15 members of the police, military and security forces in Darfur in connection with human rights abuses and that they would immediately be sent to court.").

From the Washington Post: U.S. Soldier Pleads Not Guilty in Iraqi Man's Death ("A U.S. military court was shown shaky video from a surveillance drone aircraft as a court-martial began Monday for a U.S. tank commander accused of killing an Iraqi man who witnesses have said was already critically wounded. Capt. Rogelio Maynulet, 30, of Chicago, pleaded not guilty. He could face a maximum sentence of 20 years if convicted of assault with intent to commit murder. Wearing full dress uniform, he stood as his attorney, Capt. Will Helixon, entered the plea.") ANALYSIS: This case involves the issue of "double-tapping", a prohibited practice in which a soldier walks up upon a wounded, now-unarmed soldier and "finishes them off." According to international law and military policy, once a combatant becomes injured to the point of where they cannot fight anymore, that combatant can no longer be engaged with lethal force. Instead, our forces must take that soldier into custody and render proper military aid. In return, we get to make sure they are out of the fight for the rest of the war. If the allegations are true, CPT Maynulet didn't listen very hard in his Rules of Engagement briefings.

From the New York Times: In Servicemembers Civil Relief Act (SCRA) news, Some Creditors Make Illegal Demands On Active-Duty Soldiers:

Sgt. John J. Savage III, an Army reservist, was about to climb onto a troop transport plane for a flight to Iraq from Fayetteville, N.C., when his wife called with alarming news: "They're foreclosing on our house."

Sergeant Savage recalled, "There was not a thing I could do; I had to jump on the plane and boil for 22 hours."

He had reason to be angry. A longstanding federal law strictly limits the ability of his mortgage company and other lenders to foreclose against active-duty service members.

But Sergeant Savage's experience was not unusual. Though statistics are scarce, court records and interviews with military and civilian lawyers suggest that Americans heading off to war are sometimes facing distracting and demoralizing demands from financial companies trying to collect on obligations that, by law, they cannot enforce.

In other news, Sudan Opposes U.N. on War Crimes ("Sudan would reject any United Nations resolution calling for the prosecution of Sudanese suspected of war crimes in a court abroad, the foreign minister said Sunday. The United Nations Security Council is expected to vote Wednesday on a French draft resolution that would send people suspected of war crimes in the Darfur region to the International Criminal Court. The Bush administration opposes the International Criminal Court out of a concern that it could bring politically motivated legal actions against Americans abroad.") BIAS WATCH: The Clinton Administration also opposed the ICC. Also, this Letter to the Editor accusing the Guantanamo tribunals of being "Kafkaesque."

From the Washington Post: A bizarre military mud-wrestling story ("Ten members of an Army military police unit should be disciplined for staging a mud-wrestling match at Camp Bucca, a U.S. military prison in Iraq, an investigation concluded. It is up to Lt. Gen. James R. Helmly, the Army Reserves commander, to decide how to discipline the three female guards who wrestled, six sergeants who encouraged them, and a soldier who let one of the women change in his quarters. The reservists were from the Tallahassee-based 160th Military Police Battalion, authorities said.").

From USA Today: Memo Clears Senior Air Force Officers in Sex Assault Scandal ("The Air Force has come under sharp criticism for a top-level memo that clears senior Air Force officers of any responsibility for the sex-assault scandal at the Air Force Academy. Peter Teets, acting secretary of the Air Force, sent the memo last week to Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld after announcing he would resign, effective Friday. He said he reviewed the findings of the Defense Department's inspector general and a report of an independent commission."). Also, this related op-ed ("Ask a question, and the Pentagon can drown you in numbers.").

From the NY Times: U.S. is Examining Plan to Bolster Rights of Detainees (mistakenly placed in yesterday's wrap-up); a note about Guantanamo interrogator anti-Semitism in today's Reporter's Notebook ("Some lawyers have complained that military interrogators have tried to drive wedges between them and those they represent. One lawyer said two of his clients were warned not to trust his lawyers because they were Jews. The lawyer, Thomas B. Wilner of Shearman & Sterling of Washington, said that in the first case a Kuwaiti prisoner had told him that a female interrogator had spoken about not trusting Jewish lawyers. In addition, Mr. Wilner said that on a visit here this month a second client described a different interrogator telling him to mistrust the lawyers. He said that client, also a Kuwaiti, told him a male interrogator said: "How could you trust a Jewish lawyer? Don't you know that Jews have betrayed Muslims throughout the years?" Mr. Wilner said his client was also told that "a Jew won't help a Muslim unless he gets something more out of it.").

From the Washington Post: Panel Ignored Evidence on Detainee:

A military tribunal determined last fall that Murat Kurnaz, a German national seized in Pakistan in 2001, was a member of al Qaeda and an enemy combatant whom the government could detain indefinitely at the U.S. military prison at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.

The three military officers on the panel, whose identities are kept secret, said in papers filed in federal court that they reached their conclusion based largely on classified evidence that was too sensitive to release to the public.

In fact, that evidence, recently declassified and obtained by The Washington Post, shows that U.S. military intelligence and German law enforcement authorities had largely concluded there was no information that linked Kurnaz to al Qaeda, any other terrorist organization or terrorist activities.

In other news, San Diego Sailor Faces AWOL Court Martial ("Petty Officer 3rd Class Pablo Paredes, 23, was charged with being absent without leave and missing the movement of a ship."); Changes Proposed for Guantanamo Tribunals.